- 3 months ago
Andreas Kisser and Derrick Green talk us through the five songs that have defined Sepultura's career.
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00:00We have a fucking strong album, we have 40 years anniversary, we have, you know, everything.
00:11Hello, we are Sepultura and this is five songs that define our career.
00:17Hopefully.
00:19Inner Self, Beneath The Remains, the first album that we did with Roadrunner, worldwide release.
00:25It was our first video clip that we did in Brazil because of the demand.
00:31We were caught off guard because we were in Brazil and Roadrunner contacted us asking for a video clip.
00:40We didn't expect that, you know, but we did in Brazil with some friends.
00:45It's very homemade, you know, very alternative.
00:51And it was great because airing in the Headbangers Ball and stuff, you know, Beneath The Remains was really created
00:58that impact that not even Roadrunner believed it.
01:01You know, because they changed our logo, they changed our cover.
01:04They released the album without the fold, you know, center fold, without the lyrics.
01:10Because we as a metal fan, you know, we love the kind of stuff, you know, with the info and
01:16all the stuff.
01:16And we were very frustrated that we couldn't do the album that we were dreaming of.
01:23But after the release of Beneath The Remains, the success of the Inner Self as a song more groovier, you
01:29know, compared to the other stuff that we were doing in Beneath The Remains.
01:32It really opened the eyes from the label and from the press in general and for the fans, you know,
01:39starting to pick it up and making aware of the existence of Sepultura.
01:45You know, so Inner Self was really, it was the first introduction for many, many underground fans that were starting
01:53to follow Sepultura very early.
01:55Territory is one of our biggest songs. It's from an album, Chaos AD, and I think it represents the Brazilian
02:06vibes that we are bringing to the music more intensively.
02:13I think the opening, the drum riff that Igor created, it's a fantastic mixture of heavy, hardcore metal and Brazilian
02:23rhythm.
02:25You know, still today, it's one of the most original drum intros, in my opinion, you know, and it's a
02:34very, I mean, it represents what Sepultura was all about that time, you know, really to be more groovier.
02:43To bring more of those Brazilian rhythms and even melodies, you know, on the guitar lines and on the acoustic
02:51stuff, on Caioas, you know, we did the stuff with percussion and etc.
02:56But Territory, it is a song that really, I think, represents what Chaos AD is all about, you know, especially
03:04the drums and all the stuff that we did with the guitars, the groovier parts and lyrics as well.
03:11You know, the more political, that unfortunately, we see the situation worse today than, you know, than ever.
03:18And the region, Israel, Palestine and stuff was the source, you know, of the lyric.
03:23But it talks about many different conflicts in this human world that we go through, you know, and especially because
03:33of a piece of land, you know, basically.
03:35I think it had the strongest impact because, like Andrea said, there were elements of hardcore that were in it
03:42that I'd never really heard before in Sepultura.
03:44And it was very different from Arise, from Beneath the Remains.
03:48And that album really drew me in and a lot of my friends at the time when it did come
03:55out.
03:55And so it drew a lot of attention, especially lyrically.
03:59I felt that it was stronger where I could relate to it a lot more because it's talking about social
04:04issues.
04:04And I think it was a lot of people from different parts of the world can relate to it, whether,
04:09you know, territorial, you know, whether it's whether it be in Israel or not.
04:14You know, I think there are other people in other countries that could relate to this.
04:18Rick's probably great.
04:19Well, I mean, it has to be, right?
04:23It is an album that it's really, we exploded on that Brazilian direction and percussion.
04:30The Chavantes tribe and Carlinhos Brown, you know, and the song that opens the album represents that, you know, the
04:38lyrics, where we come from, you know, the way we portray the world as Brazilians.
04:43And we weren't scared to bring those elements to the music, you know, beating bow, you know, extra instruments, the
04:54acoustic, different acoustic Brazilian local guitars and even sitars and long canyon jams, you know, percussion stuff.
05:03We were very into that vibe, you know, stuff getting away of that.
05:09Let's say even like Pantera or Fear Factory, you know, they're really sharp cuts, you know, like we were completely
05:16on the other side of it, you know, embracing noises.
05:19And, you know, of course, working with Ross Robinson, you know, he always stimulates us for the mistake.
05:26And then we do that mistake.
05:29He's very happy because we are breaking boundaries.
05:32We are discovering new things.
05:34We are putting ourselves out of the comfort zone, you know.
05:38So that's Roots is all about that, you know, really putting out of the comfort zone and really stretch our
05:43abilities and possibilities, you know.
05:46And Roots represents that.
05:47I mean, it is the Sepultura song per se, you know, what Sepultura is all about.
05:52We are from Brazil, we are heavy and that's what we do, you know, and really it is an album.
06:02It's a reference to even for us, you know, sound wise and always is a point of reference, you know,
06:10in our history.
06:11And so many musicians were inspired by that album.
06:14So many bands, you know, inspired by that album, the new metal, you know, direction, whatever you want to call
06:22it.
06:22But and of course, when we play live, it's a big explosion, you know, because it touches not only the
06:29Sepultura fan, but a lot of other people, you know, the normal people.
06:36Kairos, I think, represents a new chapter in Sepultura's career.
06:44And, you know, because we did Roarbeck and Dante and then Alex with the changing drummers, you know, was a
07:00very difficult period of our career.
07:02We were like going through different managers and record labels and stuff like that.
07:08And to the point we define Nuclear Blast as a record label.
07:13And I remember me, Derek, and one of our managers, we went for this dinner with Marcus Tiger.
07:19At the time he was the owner and he was the founder of Nuclear Blast.
07:24You remember that dinner, right?
07:25And he said, you know, very straight to us, dude, you guys are Sepultura.
07:29You know Pink Floyd, you don't do 12 minute songs and, you know, concepts and stuff, you know, because we
07:37are coming from that world.
07:38You know, like he worked for that time period and stuff.
07:41But he was right, you know, for us was really an eye opener, was a really fantastic meeting.
07:46He was very honest.
07:47He was, of course, he knew all the history of Sepultura, why he signed Sepultura and stuff.
07:54For him was one of the best achievements for his label to have Sepultura with him.
07:58So he was very happy to make us really do the best that we could.
08:03So we went a little raw, you know, we took away all the percussion.
08:09We took away not all, but, you know, most of the percussion, most of the strings and all that stuff,
08:14orchestra and etc.
08:15And we went more, you know, guitars, drums and bass and vocals.
08:20And that's what we did.
08:21I think when Andreas came with the concept of Kairos and explaining it, you know, the meaning of where it's
08:29coming from and being in that moment, it made a lot of sense.
08:32And it does every time playing that song.
08:35It's like getting goosebumps from it just because the moment is happening.
08:39Then it's so powerful.
08:40A lot of people forgetting, you know, they're always having thinking ahead and the past.
08:45And again, it really does describe Sepultura in so many ways, just like forgetting all that stuff and just being
08:52in the moment and being focused on playing the show or playing the music that we're playing.
08:57And it has such a strong impact working with Roy Z, who's great, like Andreas was saying, but with all
09:03of us, you know, lyrically, you know, he's just like, you know, really pushing us to elements that we have
09:09within us.
09:10You know, he's like, let's bring that groove, you know, let's bring that back, let's open it up, you know,
09:15and not be afraid, afraid of that and not be afraid to make mistakes as well.
09:20He's like, look, I'm going to play your track solo track of, you know, different artists like Queen or Al
09:26Green in the studio and brought everything down.
09:28He's like, there's tons of things going on in the background, but it's just loosening up and being in that
09:33moment.
09:33And it doesn't have to be perfect, you know, and it just really gave us the confidence.
09:38And we have been working with Jean de la Vella for the second album.
09:42So that was also greater as well.
09:44So I felt like, OK, we have the concept, we have the artwork, we have the song, which every night
09:50represents the moment.
09:51You know, it's like, I don't know, there's like a fire when playing that song that I think really ignites
09:57the room.
09:57And it's great to see that reaction of like this newer generation starting to come in, because there are a
10:03lot of like different haters from the past or certain people who were haters became interested in the band.
10:11Like, OK, they're moving in a direction that I can get with now.
10:14And we can feel that momentum building with the whole new generation that have been, you know, introduced to the
10:22band.
10:22Like, oh, this is, you know, this is my shit.
10:24So it was a really cool element from playing that album, playing those songs.
10:30So you could see there was moving in a bigger direction.
10:34Guardians of Earth.
10:36Last album?
10:37Last album, yeah, it's one of the most important albums of our career.
10:42We are going through everything now on this tour because of Quadra.
10:48You know, we survived the lockdown with the album.
10:51We created the Sepul Quarta event.
10:53Another album came out of it.
10:57And Guardians of Earth especially because musically, it's a song that I wanted to include more of the acoustic guitar,
11:04not only as an intro, but more as a part of the song itself.
11:08You know, that's why it has like a long part in the beginning with drums and strings and guitar, acoustic
11:15guitar.
11:16And then the fire comes and start destroying everything.
11:21You know, the distortion and the screaming and et cetera, you know.
11:25And there's this beautiful guitar lead as well.
11:28Very simple, but very meaningful to everything.
11:31You know, the beauty of nature and stuff, regardless of what we do to nature, you know, is there.
11:37The beauty is there.
11:38We need to learn with it, you know, and not destroy the stuff.
11:41I mean, that's another theme that we use, that we talk about.
11:45Especially since Kayoas on Kayo's AD and then Roots, you know, the Chavante tribe, the preservation of life, as we
11:54know with the nature and stuff.
11:56How we can deal with that in more respectful ways and stuff.
11:59And there are ways that we can do that, you know, so we use our music to express that, you
12:05know, to put that in place.
12:06Because we are from Brazil.
12:07It's not the only country who goes through this, you know.
12:10But in Brazil, we have a huge problem with that because we have the Amazon, you know, the Amazon forest.
12:15And we have to preserve that for not only for Brazil, but for the world, for you and for you
12:21as well.
12:21You know, it's the lung of the planet, right?
12:24It's known to be.
12:26So Guardians of Earth represents all that, you know, musically and lyrically.
12:32What Sepultura also have this flag, which we always, you know, raise very strongly throughout our career.
12:40The song was, it's interesting because we were, I was, I moved to LA and then Andres sent me the
12:48part.
12:49And it just really clicked fast.
12:52I remember we had the demo, man.
12:54It was like, it was a long time.
12:55Right in the beginning of the recording, the writing sessions was one of the first songs that we started working.
13:02And right away, like, if you feel like this, there's a dude, this song is fucking...
13:05It's just like visualized everything without even really having to talking to just, you know, with the whole intro.
13:12It was like, I was imagining the rainforest.
13:14It just something that came to me, like, it was just like, yeah, this definitely has to do with the
13:18vibe.
13:19And I always wanted to hear more acoustic of Andres playing because it's something that he's always been doing.
13:25And it could be, you know, put into the music of Sepultura because it's a part of his personality, a
13:31strong part.
13:32Yeah.
13:33You know, and it was just like, ah, this is exactly, you know, the direction that has to be going.
13:38So walking around, listening to him, it's like, man, I feel like...
13:42I had just been online with a friend from Ecuador and he was just like, ah, you should check out
13:46this Amazon, like, project that they're trying to help indigenous people.
13:52And so I started hearing more about them fighting in the Amazon.
13:55There's no law there.
13:57There are loggers and agriculture people killing them.
14:01And just a lot of just massacres going on that people don't hear about these stories.
14:06And there's Amazon Frontlines was the name of this group.
14:09And they were helping fighting not only in the Amazon in Brazil, but all the surrounding countries that have part
14:14of the Amazon as well.
14:16And I felt that, you know, all those images I was seeing, I was like, God, I'm imagining this beauty
14:22of their life because they have all these images showing their way of life.
14:26And then it breaks into this heavy part.
14:28And I was like, yeah, this is definitely the part of like us, like the planet itself, especially Western civilization,
14:35the demand and all this stuff that's being ripped out of the rainforest.
14:40So it was really following like a storyline that was just easy to follow with the music.
14:46And then the breakdown where it's just like, you know, that life is still there.
14:50Like he was saying, like, it's like really preserved.
14:52It's really there.
14:53It's up to us to really learn about it.
14:55And towards the end, it's like, yes, I'm fully committed and to preserve it.
15:00You know, it's kind of in that direction where it's triumphant.
15:03You know, in the end, like, you know, it's never going to stop.
15:05Like this fight is something that we have to continue.
15:08And so I love the flow of the song because it really goes in the direction of just like, yes,
15:13by the end, you're like, OK, there's a beautiful, beautiful part.
15:17The negativity, then, you know, the realization, then the solution, the end to never give up and to understand what's
15:24going on around us as a whole.
15:25So I think this and visually, you know, we were able to contact that group and get a lot, use
15:32a lot of their footage to help them, you know, in the video that we created during the pandemic and
15:37everything.
15:38And it was just it was great because we I felt that we had gotten to a level of writing
15:43where just things just were clicking.
15:45It was just a little bit easier in a way.
15:46But at the same time, challenging for all of us, you know, was a great balance of both, you know,
15:52because we always need those challenges and we pushed ourselves harder than any anything else, you know, really to create
16:00that that album, you know, something very special.
16:03But that song itself is just, you know, it's monumental.
16:07It really had a lot of influence in a lot of other bands like Gogeta and other bands that came
16:12out, you know, talking about it and having that impact.